Embrace The Suck

Once upon a time there was a girl.  A girl on the verge of adolescence, who knew a few things about the world,  but not enough for any of it to make sense.  She knew long-legged white birds did NOT bring babies.  She knew babies grew in their mothers' tummies.  What she didn't know was how babies got there,  or the words that mean how they got there. The girl did know there were words that only adults could use.  She learned early on saying fart would get her the stink-eye,  saying damn would get her an hour pulling weeds in the front yard,  and screaming B-Day, B-Day, B-Day out by the pool within earshot of her father  would get her sent to her room.  (In her defense, the girl claimed no knowledge of French bathroom equipment,  seriously, what 10 year old does?  and has no recollection of why she was shouting the "birthday"word to hell and back.) One day, as the girl's father stood at the k...

Merry Me Note: I have never even seen a turnip truck, much less ridden or fallen off one. I am closer to a Florida Cracker than Connecticut Yankee and have never been to visit the King. All that said when Sweetie and I used a gift card from my very generous employers for our anniversary dinner, we expected a mega-star meal. We just didn't expect to feel quite so out of place. My first clue that we were not in Jacksonville anymore was when we drove to the expensive end of the mall where the Capital Grille took up half the real estate at the end of the block of stores which included Luis Vitton, Tiffany & Co., and a whole store dedicated to Omega watches. I usually shop at the opposite end of the mall at Target, Pet Smart, and Joann Fabrics. Our dinner reservations were for 6 pm. Sweetie likes to get places early so we pulled up to the valet station at 5:20. This meant we had to walk the gauntlet of stores neither of us had ever stepped foot in. Well that's not exactly...

Four years ago Sweetie and I promised to love and honor each other in a small Methodist church in the thriving metropolis - okay, small Southern town - of Welaka. It was not exactly a shotgun wedding, but we'd lived in a pressure cooker for three weeks which is kind of the same thing. In some ways the wedding was anti-climatic. We'd felt married for a long time. What was in our hearts needed to be backed up with a preacher's blessing in order to diffuse a pretty stressful situation. Four years ago the day started off wet and rainy just  like today. "God's way of showing us our relationship was going to grow," said my Sweetie to allay my fears of foreboding. When I look back and see how much we've grown, I have to say I married a pretty smart man! Four years ago, we weren't concerned with picking a special day. March 17th was a day that all parties could agree on so that's the day we picked. Since we've been together Sweetie and I have amass...

Fri, Mar 7, 2014 at 10:56 AM 10:56  AM Message starred A New Global Power: Girls with Books from   Chernor Bah   to you  Show Details   In honour of #IWD2014 we present the story of girls battling for the right to become educated women and reach their full potential in the film Girls with Books: A New Global Power. International Women's Day, 8 March, is when the world recognises women, their achievements and the importance of standing up for their rights. Today's girls will be the women of tomorrow: and if a girl is educated, her value to her family, her community and their economic well-being is proven to increase.  One extra year in school alone will increase a woman's lifetime income by at least 10%. Please take a moment to watch this video and share it. One world at peace with education for all, May it be so, Merry ME

Note from ME: This may come as no surprise to anyone that I have completely confused myself between blog, personal Facebook page and Bear Facebook page. (Especially my son who keeps telling to pack my things up cause we're going to the "home." Lucky for me, he also says this job falls squarely on the shoulders of  the first born child. She lives across the country. Unless Johnson is taking secret video, I think I can stay put for awhile)   Except for pictures of bears, I don't know what I should put there. When I try to link this page with the Bear page, the only thing that posts is my sidebar. I'm much more than techno-challenged. I'm frustrated and ready to throw in the towel. So instead of worrying about https://www.facebook.com/memorybearsbyME   I'm just going to write about the bears here. My writing group, Chat Noir Writers Circle, is much more than a place to share what we've written. It's where we share our life stories. Some of that shar...